Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., said at a press conference that the release of the company’s new-generation Windows 7 operating system would hardly increase sales of personal computers significantly. This is a rather surprising comment since it also means that Microsoft’s own sales will not increase substantially as a result of Windows 7 release.

"There will be a surge of PCs but it will probably not be huge," said Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, report Reuters news-agency.

Other high-ranking executives, for example chief executive officers of Advanced Micro Devices and Intel Corp., publicly expressed hopes that sales of personal computers will increase due to the launch of Windows 7. Traditionally, sales of PCs do grow when Microsoft releases its new OSs, however, as a consequence of global economic slowdown, this year the situation may be different.

Since Windows 7 supports virtual Windows XP mode in order to maintain compatibility with special-purpose software developed for previous-generation operating systems, many enterprises may decide to buy new PCs instead of continue using old ones, like they did when Microsoft released its Vista.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, a survey of more than 1000 companies that was carried out by ScriptLogic in July showed  that 60% of companies said they planned to skip the purchase of Windows 7, partly due to spending cuts and partly over concern about compatibility with existing systems.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Business